Video Poker 24/7 - South Carolina Video Poker Case

Video Poker 247 - South Carolina Video Poker Case

Jimmy Martin has been fighting the state of South Carolina in regards to their video poker laws. He says that he runs legal video poker machines and that the state of South Carolina is targeting him illegally. He says that the new law that was passed violates the Constitution’s due process and equal protection laws because they have the ability to seize a machine before they actually know if it is illegal or not.

Originally the lawsuit was thrown out of court by U.S. District Court Judge David C. Nortons as he said that the case did not belong in a federal court. He was then overturned by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, as a three judge panel said that the lawsuit could be reinstated.

The state’s legislature had made video poker machines illegal in 1999, and the law allows the police to seize any video poker machines and give them to the county magistrate. They then decide if they are illegal or not, and if they are found to be they are destroyed. When Nortons said that the case did not belong in federal court, he was citing a passage that says federal courts should not “intrude” on state administrative processes.

However, the appeals court disagreed saying that the federal government has an issue with the case as well, and that their interest precludes the state’s interests. Judge Harvie Wilkinson, III said that he thought the dispute was best left to the state, but the other judges disagreed.

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